Claiming to be the "World’s Largest Store," Macy’s is one of the city’s most well-known shopping destinations. Personally I’m not sure it is the world’s largest; I’ve been in others that seemed equally big if not larger, but with eleven floors and a building that occupies a full city block, Macy’s is quite huge. The store goes way beyond the suburban mall Macy’s that dot the nation, offering clothing, housewares, accessories, furniture, gourmet foods, decorative items, jewelry, perfumes, cosmetics shoes, and more. There’s even a nail salon and vision and optical center, as well as a full USPS station. And should all this shopping make you hungry, don’t fret; Macy’s offers eleven restaurants, offering everything from fast food to full-service fine dining.

I visited Macy’s more for the novelty of seeing what it was like and saying I’ve been there than to seriously shop. I’m fortunate to have a great variety of shopping options back home, and it’s rare that even in a city like New York that I find things that are not readily available back home. I also had more than enough to haul back with me on the plane to Houston, and trying to fit several more items into my luggage was going to be a real challenge. Despite my plan not to shop at Macy’s, I still had a great time exploring the store. I was somewhat disappointed by the store’s interior appearance. It’s very nice, but did not quite live up to my expectations – probably because I spent a full afternoon exploring Marshall Field’s store on State St. in Chicago a few years ago, which is one of the most beautiful stores you’ll ever find. The ground floor of Macy’s main building does exhibit some of the same grandeur, with marble columns, brass balcony and stairway railings, and antique light fixtures. Opened in 1902, this building seems much more unique than the adjacent, more modern 7th Avenue Building. It’s worth a trip up several levels in this building to find the original wooden escalators, which still connect many of the upper floors (escalators on the lower levels are more heavily used and most have been replaced by modern equipment). Also look for the original wooden revolving doors along the building’s 34th St. façade.

Macy’s offers a full array of services for shoppers, including a complimentary personal shopping service, visitors center with concierge, coat and package check, and consolidation service, which allows you to shop all over the store throughout the day and have your items consolidated together so that you can pay for all of them at once. Also available, and very helpful, are printed directories that you can pick up from employees working at the store’s main entrances, and at the visitors center on the 34th St. balcony level.

I admit to never having seen so many handbags in one place, although I actually found there to be too many, as I was so spoiled by choice, deciding not to bother buying one, even though I really needed one.

The store itself is large, but not as large as I had expected. It is spread on about eight floors, but the higher up you go on the escalators, the older and more rickety they get. You start off on large, modern, metal ones, and then change to older metal ones and the final couple of floors are on narrow wooded ones. It was very strange.

We also found some of the products to be old fashioned, especially when you get to the furniture section. It was like walking into an old '50s movie with old-fashioned furniture in an old-fashioned building. I half expected to see ghosts lounging on the beds!

I’m sure many people love this store, but it was not for me.